Simply Pray

Do you realize that even directing a thought toward God qualifies as silent prayer? It’s true! Whether you have been praying for years, are just learning to pray, have hit a “slump” in your spiritual life or simply want your prayer life to improve, know this: God wants you to learn to pray more effectively, and He wants your prayer life to become more fulfilling.

Short, simple prayers can be mighty beyond description, but this does not take away from the fact that prayer is also a grand mystery. Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian who wrote many profound books while imprisoned for his faith, wrote: “Prayer is the most wonderful act in the spiritual realm, as well as a most mysterious affair.”

I believe the greatest mystery of prayer is that it joins the hearts of people on Earth with the heart of God in heaven.

Prayer goes into the spiritual realm. It brings things out of that unseen realm and into the world around us, right where we live. It ushers spiritual blessings into our natural, everyday lives and brings spiritual power to bear on our earthly circumstances.

We human beings are the only creatures in our known universe who can stand in the natural realm and touch the spiritual realm. When we pray, we connect with God, and He affects our daily lives beyond our comprehension.

I believe prayer is one of the greatest powers available in the entire universe. That’s a bold statement, given the other kinds of power that are available today, but I am convinced beyond the slightest doubt that it is true.

When we think of atomic power, we think of forces greater than we can imagine. When we think of something as basic as fuel power in a motorcycle on the highway, we think of something extremely noisy, intense and potentially dangerous.

But every kind of power we encounter on Earth means nothing in heaven. Atomic power could wipe out an entire city of people, but it cannot give them eternal life. This power once commanded the attention of every nation, but it never healed a broken heart. Fuel power takes us where we want to go in the world, but it does not help us make any spiritual progress in our lives or move forward in God.

Prayer opens the door for God to work. It is the activity that you and I can engage in on Earth when we need the power of heaven to come into our lives and bring wisdom, direction, encouragement or a miraculous breakthrough. Prayer connects us to the power of God—and that is why it is a greater force than anything else we can ever imagine.

Only the power of prayer can move the hand of God. And only the power of God can change an individual heart, free a person from bondage and torment, overturn disappointments and devastations, break an addiction, or heal a person’s emotions. Only God’s power can bring peace, instill joy, grant wisdom, impart a sense of value and purpose to a person who doesn’t know what to do in life, and work every kind of miracle.

The awesome, tremendous power of God—the greatest in the universe—is released in our lives through simple, faith-filled prayer. And because we can pray, we have extraordinary power. We can overcome problems we thought we could never overcome; we can do things people did not believe we could do; we can make brilliant decisions. We can walk in victory through all the challenges in our lives.

I have learned that God has not made prayer complicated. Sometimes our religious mind-sets and “systems” present prayer in such a way that it seems out of reach for many of us. But God wants our communication with Him to be unencumbered by rules, regulations, legalism and obligation. He intends for prayer to be an integral part of our everyday lives.

If you want power in your life—power over anything—I encourage you to simply pray!

Joyce Meyer is a New York Times best-selling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries. She has authored more than 90 books, including her new Living Beyond Your Feelings (Hachette). To read her past columns in Charisma, go to charismamag.com/meyer. Visit her online at joycemeyer.org.